Dragonlance Dragonlance Creators Reveal Why There Are No Orcs On Krynn

Talking to the Dragonlance Nexus, Dragonlance creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman revealed why the world of Krynn features no orcs -- in short, because they didn't want to copy Tolkien, and orcs were very much a 'Middle Earth' thing.

Weis told Trampas Whiteman that "Orcs were also viewed as very Middle Earth. We wanted something different." Hickman added that it was draconians which made Krynn stand out. Read more at the link below!

Why are there no Orcs in Krynn? Weis and Hickman give us the answer! - Dragonlance Nexus

Dragonhelm gets the scoop from Weis and Hickman on why there are no orcs in Krynn. Read More

dragonlancenexus.com

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

You know what race is really tired, boring and old? Humans. I mean come on. Middle of the road, uninteresting and the only reason they stick around is for having some sort of comparative baseline. Ugh!

Eh, when it comes to fantasy games, I never play human PCs. I am one in real life, so why the heck would I play a fantasy one?

 

[Maxperson]

this again (and I will rephrase form other thread since this is more appropriate) The Orcs of 1982 that made sense for (form what I know I wasn't here until 1995) but the orcs of 2022 are not 1 note created by the bad guy as a hoard of minnions... they are a living fully (well maybe mostly) fleshed out full of individuals .

Lack of foundation for something to exist in the game world would be just as appropriate in 2082 as it was in 1982. World building is world building. If you just toss stuff into the world without any rhyme or reason, that's anti-world building, since nothing it is not being built, but rather just a segment of something that is tossed in haphazardly.

 

[darjr]

Eh, there was at least one Orc and they are mythical in Dragonlance as far as I know. So I would rather not but I wouldn’t mind and roll with it.

 

[Maxperson]

I'd buy that explanation better if the Silvanesti, Qualinesti and Kagonesti elves didn't resemble the Sindar, Vanyar and Nandor so much...

Other than there being three, I don't see much resemblance. None of the Krynn elves resembled the Vanyar. I can see the Silvanesti elves as Sindar, but at some point you can't help but have some resemblance to some elf offshoot of Tolkien's. He varied them pretty well.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

SO if those are the reasons, there is no reason (other then tradition) to not include them today.

What reason is there to include them, other than tradition?

 

[D1Tremere]

Makes perfect sense. If someone really had to play an orc, I'd just fluff it as a hobgoblin from a savage tribe anyway.

Not really necessary. Just because Orcs aren't native doesn't mean there aren't any. Spelljamming, magic gates, etc. Make it possible for any race to be in any setting in atleast small numbers.

 

[Maxperson]

What reason is there to include them, other than tradition?

That's very true. There is no reason other than tradition to include orcs. People want orcs in because orcs have been in and should be an option. That's tradition.

 

[Cadence]

Not really necessary. Just because Orcs aren't native doesn't mean there aren't any. Spelljamming, magic gates, etc. Make it possible for any race to be in any setting in atleast small numbers.

Why does the world need spelljamming and magic gates? If those are things, then it does certainly open the possibilities for at least non-native lots of stuff.

 

[DarkCrisis]

I recall the reason orcs (and halflings) weren't included was they were "too Tolkien". I glad to see I was right.

Still, with orcs being as ubiquitous as they are now, I don't think they would be out of the place any longer. More people think of Warcraft than Tolkien these days.

Well that's just sad.

 

[Von Ether]

You know what race is really tired, boring and old? Humans. I mean come on. Middle of the road, uninteresting and the only reason they stick around is for having some sort of comparative baseline. Ugh!

In one sci-fi setting of mine, the humans ARE the space "orcs." On the scale of where space-faring species developed, Earth is a high gravity world. Compared to all the tall, slender aliens, some of who can glide, humans are squat, heavy and super strong. An international incident can be caused by just not watching where you're going. And always be aware of your surroundings.

"Did you know that humans have to use metal chairs!"